Death anniversary of Kalpana Chawla

Today is the 14th death anniversary of one of the most the inspirational woman and the story of the life that touched many souls. Kalpana Chawla is the first Indian-American astronaut and the first Indian woman in space. She was one of the seven crew members died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003. Let us recall the lady of ingenuity and bravery today.

1. Kalpana Chawla graduated from Tagore School, Karnal in 1976.

2. She completed her aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College in 1982.

3. In the same year, she moved to the United States where she completed her Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984.

4.In 1986, Kalpana Chawla took a second Masters and a PhD in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

5. In 1988, she began working at the NASA Ames Research Center, where she did Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) research on Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing concepts.

6. In 1997, she became the first Indian-born woman and the second Indian person to fly in Space Shuttle Columbia as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator.

7. In 1986, Chawla took a second Masters and a PhD in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 1997, she became the first Indian-born woman and the second Indian person to fly in Space Shuttle Columbia as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator.

8. In 1997, Kalpana first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia STS-87 as a mission specialist.

9. On her first mission, Kalpana travelled over 10.4 million miles as much as 252 orbits of the earth, logging more than 372 hours in space.

10. In the year, 2000, Kalpana was selected for her second flight as part of the crew of STS-107. The mission got repeatedly delayed and Kalpana returned to space on January 16, 2003.

11. On February 1, same year, Kalpana Chawla died along with all six other crew members in the Space Shuttle Columbia on the ill-fated STS-107 mission.